The major film studios and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
met on Wednesday to discuss the "final" contract offer
presented to the union earlier this week, just before their old
labor pact expired, but the session ended inconclusively.

In brief, low-key statements, the two sides said their
four-hour meeting amounted to a question-and-answer session
about the 43-page proposal issued by the studios when
long-stalled talks broke off on Monday.

"SAG asked for more time to study our final offer and
indicated it will contact the producers on Monday," said the
studios' bargaining agent, the Alliance of Motion Picture and
Television Producers.

No further meetings were scheduled, it said.

SAG's statement gave no hint of its next move, except to
say it would "further analyze" the studios' answers to its
questions "over the next several days in order to prepare a
response to management's proposal."

The studio offer contains essentially the same terms as a
deal brokered by SAG's smaller sister union, the American
Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), which SAG
leaders have vehemently opposed as a weak compromise.

SAG has sought to persuade its 40,000 members who belong to
both unions to reject AFTRA's tentative contract in a
ratification vote that comes to a close next Tuesday.
Continued...